The Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) is
holding an ad hoc meeting at its main base in Loi Taileng, opposite
Maehongson’s Pang Mapha district today, and one of the hot topics is to
respond to the Kachin invitation to attend the meeting at Laiza on the
Sino-Burmese border, 30 October-1 November, according to an RCSS/SSA
source.
“Whether or not we attend the Summit is less important than the
principles we stand for,” one of the highly-placed source told SHAN. “We
together with the UNFC (United Nationalities Federal Council, the 12
party armed alliance) had drawn up the Comprehensive Union Peace and
Ceasefire Agreement (CUPCA) in April. We stand by it.”

KIO president Zawng Hra (Photo: KIO)

At
the time of this writing, it is not clear whether the group will join
the Ethnic Armed Groups (EAG) Conference, hosted by the Kachin
Independence Organization/Kachin Independence Army (KIO/KIA).
The conference is expected to discuss the Nationwide Ceasefire
Agreement signing as proposed by Naypyitaw. So far, only a few groups
have seen the draft agreement, which was reportedly adopted from the
CUPCA, which was presented to the government in May.
The invitation, signed by KIO president Zawng Hra, was extended to 18 armed groups: